Mega Brand Intel and Robin Wright

The international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is taking place this week and it has had a powerful effect on bystanders, especially when the CEO of Intel, Brian Krzanich took the stage. Every year the trade show draws an audience over a 100,000 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada. During Krzanich’s keynote he took a moment to announce that all microprocessors sold in 2014 will be Conflict-Free of any raw minerals that have derived from grave human rights abuses in Africa. The unanticipated statement delivered a strong message to consumers and fellow electronic brands who source minerals from central African regions of great conflict. 

Wednesday Krzanich and House of Cards star Robin Wright, who is strongly known for her human rights activism stepped into the lime light during a panel interview with Intel at CES. The actress has vigorously campaigned against Conflict Minerals alongside of NGO, The Enough Project. Wright expressed that people get busy and forget because the conflict in Africa is so far away, but stressed that it is still directly tied to all of us. 

The opposite of corporate social responsibility occurred this past Tuesday as industry members in a Washington D.C. court argued the implementation of U.S. Conflict Minerals law Dodd-Frank SEC 1502. 

May 31, 2014 under Section 1502 of the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule, U.S. publicly traded companies will have to file a special disclosure for the 12-month reporting period ending on December 31, 2013. The aim of the rule, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is to provide transparency into corporate practices and specifically to reduce funding for armed groups involved in human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries. 

Section 1502 compels public disclosure for any issuer whose products are identified as containing one or more of the four conflict minerals (tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold also known as “3TG”) suspected to have originated in the DRC or surrounding countries.  Minerals contained in products that are found to be sourced from the covered countries will trigger a “not found to be conflict free” disclosure, while minerals that are not found to be sourced from the covered countries will trigger a “conflict free” disclosure. Where an Issuer is unable to determine the source of 3TG minerals, an “Undeterminable” classification may be filed along with a Conflict Minerals Report detailing the reasonable and good faith effort to try to determine their origin.

Source Intelligence just released an analisis paper that breaks down 4 prevailing approaches of conflict minerals compliace programs. To download click HERE.

By: Jahara Singh